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2008 Fall Newsletter

One issue is published each Fall and discussed during October and/or November on the CONFCHEM discussion list.

The discussion schedule for the Falll 2008 Newsletter is as follows:

List of Papers in this Newsletter

1. An eBook in Flash to Support Inductive LearningRoberto Ma.Gregorius

2. Browsers and BurrowersHarry E. PenceBrowsers and Burrowers

3. Searching for a Cloud on the Computing Horizon - 2008Harry E. Pence

4. Book Review: Mac OS X by David Pogue"Brian Pankuch

5. Revolution -- A Rapid Development ToolDavid W. Brooks

6. An online course on Computers in Chemical EducationDaniel C. Tofan

7. The Periodic Table Database projectDaniel C. Tofan

More Information

The Newsletter is an online publication. Publication of an edition of the Newsletter is followed by an online discussionwith the authors. The articles frequently contain working examples, such as animations, so you can experiment withnew ideas and technology. We are primarily interested in using technology to make Chemical Education moreinteresting and effective.

If you would like to share some of your own thoughts and innovations as an article, contact Editor Brian Pankuch(Pankuch@eclipse.net) about writing an article. Submitting an article does not preclude its subsequent publicationelsewhere. Articles should be set up on your own website and the website address of the article sent to editor BrianPankuch (Pankuch@eclipse.net) for review and acceptance. Include a brief description of your article. For assistancegetting your article up on a website contact Scott Van Bramer (svanbram@science.widener.edu).

Authors are requested to keep their material available for at least one year after publication and longer is preferred. Anonline discussion period is scheduled for each article using a managed Listserv Discussion List. These discussions between authors and readers are available to all subscribers.

Newsletter Articles

Roberto Ma. Gregorius
Associate Professor in the Department of Adolescence Education and Director of the Chemical Education
Leader slip Program, Schooi of Education and Human Servi

A learning system (here called the Inductive Concept Construction [IC2] learning
system) composed of an electronic textbook (eBook), out of the classroom group
discussion, and an in-class reporting and critiquing was developed and implemented. The
eBook was made entirely using Adobe! Macromedia' s Rash authoring tool and was
comprised of modules that provided guided inquiry in the form of computer animated
presentations and simulations, guided exercises for protocol-driven applied problem solving,
drilling exercises in the form of randomly generated word problems and arcade
style games. The eBook was then used as the main con tent source for out of the
classroom student group discussions. Classroom time was devoted to reporting on pre-established
questions and discussion topics, and students' critiques of their classmates'
presentations. The process was well-received and student performance, especially in
concept learning, was enhanced over that of traditional textbook and lecture systems.

In 2005, I wrote about Revolution use for the back-end of a Web site and provided examples of using this tool at the core of a 24/7 practice system. The latest version of Revolution incorporates numerous improvements and additions. Perhaps the most powerful among these is an alpha product that will allow Web developers to plug Revolution files (called stacks) into Web pages and run them much like Java applets or Adobe Flash animations. Because I suspect that creating such Revolution stacks is a much easier task than creating either of the other aforementioned, chemistry educators need to know about Revolution. This product holds the promise of doing for us what HyperCard did two decades ago. We'll be able to keep our regular chemistry teaching jobs, while still having enough time to create powerful learning tools for our chemistry students.